W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Fern, the woods, and the fall sun, Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve Oakbrook, IL October 16, 2021, 2:06 PM
It was a beautiful fall afternoon with temperatures in the upper 50s (14-15C) and a clear blue sky. Fern and I were giving a new forest preserve a try. It was an excellent choice. Much of the path was along a creek with woods to the east. We came across a momma white-tailed deer and her three fawns crossing the path in front of us moving from the creek side into the woods. It was an excellent walk in the fall sun. We also ran into a Brittany puppy on our walk and it brought back memories of sharp teeth and house training. Make the Days Count, one day at a time, never knowing what will cross my path.
What has crossed your path lately?
Tommy – 11 weeks old, Fern – 2 and one half years old meet in the woods along a limestone path Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve Oakbrook, IL October 16, 2021, 2:21 PM
We’re at the lake for the Labor Day weekend. W and I drove up Friday night after school, B drove up Wednesday with the dogs stopping in Lansing along the way, and O arrived Friday after classes. All here, second year in a row.
Yesterday we all worked hard to get the boats, the lifts, and the docks out of the water. We finished our chores just as the rain began early in the evening.
O cooked dinner and we gathered at the table before calling it a day. I was the first to hit the rack, admitting I was too tired for a game at the table.
This morning when I woke, the clouds were gone, and the weather had changed, and it was sunny, cool, and breezy. A perfect day to wrap up our summer before returning home early Monday morning.
O’s cooking breakfast and it smells wonderful here and it’s almost ready. It’s gonna be a great day I know it and I can feel it. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, coming together and working together to move from one season to the next.
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Michigan State College marker, date unknow. East Lansing, MI August 28, 2021 6:10 PM
Saturday morning, we loaded our car and took off to take our youngest daughter off to college. It was a hot day and we got everything into her un-air-conditioned dorm room. We helped her unpack and put things away and then drove home. The drive home seemed so much longer than the drive there. Same distance, different circumstances, lighter load and for the first time in twenty-three and half years we are on our own again. Life begins anew. I remember my first week or so away from home and off to college, but I never thought how hard it was on my mom. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, beginning a new journey all over again.
Do you remember your first day away home?
today was O’s first day of class and I sent her greetings from my class! (notice my Alma mater on my mask – Texas A&M University) – Naperville, IL September 1, 2021 10:15 AM
It’s Day 57 and I have a dozen days remaining in my summer break. I slept late this morning. Sleeping late is a luxury of summer or anytime when the following day comes without a schedule or place to be early in the morning. Sleeping late is a direct consequence of living without a schedule or maybe staying up late to watch the stars shine brightly in the summer sky, or return home from a family.
“Summer was our best season – everything good to eat, a thousand colors in a parched landscape.” ― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Last night all three of us went to a concert by the band Chicago. B and I listened to them in our youth and the songs were part of the soundtracks of us growing up. O got a glimpse of the music her parents listened to as they figured out how to be adults. It was a fun concert, and the band finished their performance with one of their best-known songs, “25 or 6 to 4”, for their encore.
It was a late night and we got home well past midnight.
It’s Day 50, not sure how I got here so fast, but I am here.
“I could never in a hundred summers get tired of this.” – Susan Branch
I am back in school in 19 days, I am under 20 days to a regular schedule, a regular waking time and probably a much earlier going to bedtime, too.
a third summer office – on the deck in full view of the lake, the birds, and the world. Thanks to John at LVPhotoblog for the tip on iPhone photos
Up here at the lake the sunsets much later in the day than at home. We are almost 3 degrees further north and our position relative to the time zone line has a significant impact. Here at the lake, we are in the far western part of the US Eastern Time Zone, it is GMT – 4; and at home we are in the far eastern part of the US Central Time Zone where we are GMT – 5. The east west difference is a little more than 3 degrees longitude.
Today’s sunset will be at 9:08 PM or 21:08 EDT at 298˚ NW by the lake. And, at home it will be 8:14 PM or 20:14 CDT or 296˚ NW. That is a difference of six minutes, adjusting for the time zone change.
Yes, I am aware I went ‘sciencey’ there, but with nineteen days before school begins, I need to start thinking about teaching and making things interesting and relevant for 11–12-year-old. Full disclosure is that I had a science ZOOM call yesterday and we discussed teaching science for almost a full hour. Continue reading Days of Summer: a ‘sciencey’ Week 7→
It’s fortieth day of summer break and there are twenty-eight days or four weeks until summer break is finished for this year and school restarts. It’s been a pleasant time for rest, relaxation, projects, and a bit of renewal.
This fall marks the beginning of my twenty-third year as a teacher. It’ll be the twelfth year of blogging. I’ve written almost 700 posts in that time and there have been a few repeats, today will be a repeat of sorts.
If there is one thing I have learned in my time as a blogger, sometimes it’s good to go back before going forward. Abraham Lincoln once said or wrote or both,
“The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future.”
I know it’s probably not advisable to spend too much time dwelling on the past, for there is little to gain as the past cannot be changed. We can only learn from our past and endeavor be better and do better. Recently, I read a blog post and responded with reference to a quote attributed to Muhammad Ali,
“……. if you are the same person you were thirty years ago you have wasted thirty years.”
“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
But I digress.
Big Rocks. This morning I took a purposeful walk at the Morton Arboretum. I was there a couple of days ago, on Friday, to take in the new exhibit Human-Nature. I thought I had a photo of the Big Rock, but I couldn’t find one, so I this morning I hiked to the Big Rock and back retrieving the photo below.
this boulder weighs 12 to 14 tons and hasn’t moved since the glacier deposited it here over twelve thousand years ago
It’s a big rock all right. Geologists believe the rock was deposited by a glacier in the last ice age some 13,000 years ago. Much of the upper Midwest was shaped and formed by the ice age.
But the big rocks I am referring to are the important things in my life. During summer break, I always make more time to focus on renewal than I can during the school year. I can focus on it because there is more time, I am not planning lessons, grading papers, or teaching students. I have the time to do what is important, but when school resumes, as it always does, I slowly fall back into the same pattern of behaviors focusing on what is urgent and pressing instead of my relationships, my health and fitness, and our home. It’s a delicate balance. Continue reading Big Rocks and summer→
It’s Day 29 of summer break and it’s July. If July were a color, I think it would be yellow. July is the caution light of summer for me. It’s the reminder that school is closer than it was in June, but there are plenty of days remaining to keep making count.
This past two weeks we have entertained guests at the lake, two separate guests – this first guests were O’s classmates who celebrated the transition from high school to college – all three are heading off to school in August in Michigan. This past week we entertained friends from wife’s hometown – her buddy and high school classmate and his wife. They’ve joined us before, and we always have a great time together.
This year we took a road trip to the Upper Peninsula and had a blast. We were there the entire day and well into the night. We passed through Paradise three times on our journey!
photo taken at Whitefish Point with camera pointed due North, coordinates 46 46’21″N and 84 57’33” W – the waves from the lake were crashing ashore weathering the rocks. It was an amazing day.
It was my first time to visit Lake Superior and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point where we spent most of our time walking the beach looking for agates – rocks formed inside volcanic and metamorphic rocks. We visited on July 1st and Canada Day, and we could see Canadian hills in the distance. We decided to forego the museum for lunch at Tahquamenon State Park which I had learned about from my blogging friend Dawn at Change is Hard. The falls did not disappoint we visited the lower falls first, enjoyed lunch, and took in the upper falls before we left. We finished our day with a trip to an International Dark Sky Park at Wilderness State Park before heading home. It was a fun trip, but we pulled into the lake house drive well after midnight.
“Summer is for surrendering; winter is for wondering.” ― Debasish Mridha
“One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by.” ― Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
The summer days are gliding past, it is hard to believe it is Day 22. I’ve enjoyed the first twenty-one days and made them count and the past seven days of summer have been filled with up, downs, ins, outs, and a lot of rain at home as well as by the lake shore.
O and I returned home late Sunday afternoon for a quick visit home to grab a couple of things we needed before returning this morning for the Independence Day weekend.
Monday morning, Fern and I awakened to a very moist garden and yard. It had rained most of the previous week and W (our lawn service) had not been able to mow the lawn. The mid-June flowers were blooming and there was a closeness that only can be felt in the summer. It’s the point where you can feel the moistness of the air. It rained and was cloudy, but Fern and I ventured out for a walk and we both came home exhausted and thirsty.
And as the song’s chorus reminds me,
This could possibility be the best day ever! (This could possibility be the best day ever,) And the forecast says that tomorrow will likely be a million and six times better. So, make every minute count, jump up, jump in, and seize the day, And let’s make sure that in every single possible way, Today is gonna be a great day!
Making the Days Count, one day at a time, especially when it rains.
What was one of your ups (or downs) this past week?
It’s Sunday morning and the sun is shining, for now, and it’s the last Sunday in June.
We’ve had rain the last couple of days and the lawn, and the garden are rebounding.
my Sunday morning companion
Yesterday morning I watched the fog lifting and walked outside to take a photo from the end of the dock – yesterday’s days of summer Instagram post and I discovered a couple of spider webs which had been spun overnight. It reminded me of the story of Charlotte in E.B. White’s classic story, Charlotte’s Web.
Saturday morning spider web, spun overnight
Sunday morning spider – spinning int he wind
Earlier this morning Fern and I stepped outside between showers, and I discovered an exceptionally large spider.
I’ve been watching the birds – especially the blue jays – as they visit the feeders. I’ll see a flash or shadow and look up to see a blue jay the deck either railing, the ledge, or the arm of one of the deck chairs before it hops to the seed feeder. Continue reading Late June Sunday morning→
I am two weeks into Summer 2021 – 14 full days and I mean FULL.
“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” —Sam Keen
The past two days of summer have found me prone on the couch reading a book. Storms blasted through the Midwest late Sunday night into early Monday morning. We went from warm to cool, hence the change in activity reading on the couch and a couple of moments of looking at the underside of my eyelids. I have felt and lived Sam Keen’s quote. Monday morning the lake was breezy and cold.
It’s Wednesday and Day 15. It’s sunny but breezy making the mid-60s (upper teens C) air feel much cooler than it really is.
I’ve been watching my bird feeder off and on this morning – it was my Father’s Day gift – witnessing my first seed visitor, a blue jay and watching a hummingbird dip down for sip of nectar. That’s my photo for Day 15 – you can see it in the Instagram feed to the right, or wait until next week’s Summer Days post.
The past seven days have been amazing, and Day 15 through Day 68 could be a million six times better, but today is gonna be a great day. So, I’d better jump in, jump out, and seize the day. Making the days count, one day at a time, figuring ways to make each day count.
